Please do not suffer in silence

[Steve Ashton]

Within an hour yesterday I received 5 emails from a member who had not logged on in over 5 years. It seems that they had simply forgotten their password. In the end they got the annual automated anniversary message and replied to that.

This is just one of them - (I have removed the profanity)

"Dear Steve,
I have attempted to edit my profile, but to do that I have to log in. I have attempted to log in, repeatedly, without success. I have not yet found a spot to reset my blinking password. I am once again at my wits end in an attempt to rejoin the community. I have tried several times over the past 2 years to log in with the SAME ******* RESULTS EVERY SINGLE TIME. How do I reset my ********* password so I can gain access? Otherwise your lovely message congratulating me on my anniversary with the community feels like a taunt. I'm sure it is meant well, but today is is only a source of frustration and anger."

Folks, I am here to help you. If you are having a problem of any sort I am simply an email or phone call away.

Please do not suffer in silence. Do not try in frustration for two years like this person did. Once I got this email the problem was fixed within hours.

If you do not have my X Marks email address you can simply click on the "Contact Us" link which is displayed at the bottom of every single page of this forum.
If you wish, include a telephone number in your email and I will call you on my dime. I can walk you through almost any issue you may be having.

I fully understand that it can be frustrating at times if you do not visit X Marks often. This is a large forum and can be daunting.

But please do not suffer in silence for 2 years trying to reset your email address or your password. (Or anything else for that matter)

If you do not contact me, I do not know that you are having a problem. If I do not know you are having a problem, I cannot fix it.

[The Q]

Yesterday I tried to deal with a company / website, where I had forgotton the password and to change passwords you had to log in, to contact them you had to log in, if you accessed the lost password page, you had to put the old one in?!

I appreciate how easy you make it
Thanks...

Sometime today my internet goes off at home, while they change to fibre to the nearest distribution box on the road(about a mile away). Why do i think this could be another disaster?!

[seanachie]

Our company has it's own SaaS application (software as a service), suppliers and contractors forget their password all the time, I wind up doing this on the Help Desk constantly (even with an automated password link).

A good idea is to create a password memorable to you but indecipherable to others. Ex. I was born on the 3rd Thursday in September= Iwbot3rdTiS

[Tartan Tess]

Great message Steve. I know from watching you that you monitor and check for problems and questions on the site constantly, to help people. I am very guilty of this with the downloading of photos. Thanks for always being there to help.

[tundramanq]

I keep my log-in info on a single sheet document right next to the keyboard. Safely, as it is encoded.

Different sites have different password rules.
The passwords need to be different for each site in the event one of the sites is hacked.
So I started the list of one line entries that is currently almost a page long.
The front end of the password is to meet the varying - caps, lowercase and symbol requirements and the common ones are partially abbreviated on the list.
The second part is one of my 5 standard "patterns" to meet length requirements and is represented by a single symbol that reminds only me.

This system keeps me from having to remember 40+ unique passwords and user names. I'm 63 - ain't gonna happen

Things that can cause real financial pain like my bank and IRA funds are not on the list and do not use any of the patterns from the list.